“Eco-bomb” in Zagreb? HDZ warns of hazardous waste near Sava lakes

Zagreb’s opposition HDZ has described about 33,000 tonnes of hazardous industrial waste near the city’s Petruševec water source as an “eco-bomb.” The water source supplies around 150,000 Zagreb residents, according to the party.

Ivan Matijević, president of Zagreb HDZ, accused Mayor Tomislav Tomašević and the Možemo! administration of failing to act since taking power in 2021. In a statement titled “Gudron pits: green government, black Sava,” he said the waste sits in three lakes in the Sava area.

Matijević said chemical analyses confirmed the hazardous waste in 2006, while preparations for remediation began in 2007. A 2016 programme formally identified possible pollution from the lakes affecting groundwater at Petruševec. He also cited studies documenting soil contamination, including elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in almost all monitoring wells and increased levels of some metals in groundwater.

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Tomislav Tomašević and Možemo! took power in Zagreb in 2021, presenting themselves as waste experts and a political force that would turn environmental protection into real results.

Environmental groups, particularly Ekologija grada, had also warned for a year about waste being deposited and buried near the water source, the statement said. A 2023 programme identified the Jakuševec landfill as another potential source of groundwater pollution and recommended continued monitoring of groundwater and surface water, along with remediation of the wider area.

Matijević said monitoring had stopped and that the required remediation programme had not been adopted. He also accused the city administration of failing to register Savica with the Environmental Protection Fund in 2025 as a priority contaminated site. “They had the diagnosis, they had the money, they had the authority, but they did not lift a finger,” he said.

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They had the diagnosis, they had the money, they had the authority, but they did not lift a finger.